Such discharge lamps are known per se. They must be operated using an electronic ballast which can apply iterative high-voltage pulses to the discharge lamp. However, the invention is also based on ballasts for other types of lamps which can be operated using iteratively produced voltage pulses, and particularly on those lamps or lamps with such circuitry that there is a capacitive characteristic as in the case of dielectrically impeded discharges.
It is also known per se to use inductances in ballasts for producing high-voltage pulses, and to produce the desired voltage pulses using various converter principles, for example so-called forward converters or flyback converters. The inductance may in this case be a simple inductor or else a so-called autotransformer having taps for a supply circuit and for a lamp circuit containing the lamp or, as is preferred here, may be an isolating transformer. The supply circuit produces a flow of current through the inductance and can be connected in this case using a switch, referred to here as a first switch (generally a primary circuit switch).